There is an easier way to do this, you talk to other owners who had their business's acquired and see what they have to say. You can do this when any major contractual relationship occurs. Either they will be very happy to tell you how amazing the deal was, or they will speak endlessly on what a pile of shit those involved were. Its easy to ask.
Companies develop reputations, and so do people. Liars should be called liars, and everyone should be reminded of it, most assuredly when those individuals are doing big PR pushes and want the media to give it front page headline space (as some have alleged another recent Yahoo acquisition was.)
Human psychology makes it difficult to speak negatively about things. People want to be around other positive people, not negative ones. In this case the author is being referred to as "bitter." I have another suggestion, we speak positively about people in business who do keep their promises, on and off contract.
I agree, the best way to determine if an acquiring company treats its acquirees well is to ask others who have been acquired by them. But that's kind of a separate question from how you protect yourself when you're at the negotiating table. If you talk to a bunch of others who've sold to that company and they all say it was horrible, you should wave off the deal before you ever get to a negotiating table.
I don't think waving off the deal is the only reasonable response - it is also reasonable to change your own expectations. Don't plan for a future, simply get everything you can up front. Anything else more long term than that, you should consider fluff. It can be hard to let "your baby" go like that, but depending on the circumstances it may even be the right thing for you, a chance to start over on a different project.
Companies develop reputations, and so do people. Liars should be called liars, and everyone should be reminded of it, most assuredly when those individuals are doing big PR pushes and want the media to give it front page headline space (as some have alleged another recent Yahoo acquisition was.)
Human psychology makes it difficult to speak negatively about things. People want to be around other positive people, not negative ones. In this case the author is being referred to as "bitter." I have another suggestion, we speak positively about people in business who do keep their promises, on and off contract.